Is there a time of year when universities/colleges are recruiting lecturers, or a time of year when it's easiest to find a job in a language school?

I'm a native speaker, have three year's EFL teaching (one year at university), an MS Ed and an MS TESOL in progress (graduation June 2005). My French is pretty good. My spouse is EU, so I get working/residence permission from his status: but that will take 1-3 months to process, so we need to start looking early.

For universities, the best time is right before the semester begins (September for fall, December/January for spring).

Lecturer positions are rarely ever advertised. What worked in my case (I teach at a university just outside Paris) is that I went to the main personnel/human resources office at the university and simply asked if they had any open positions. They hired me almost on the spot - and only asked to see proof of credentials afterwards. These offices are usually too lazy/busy to do a formal hiring process, which can work to your advantage if you go IN PERSON to see these people. (By the way, the "in person " advantage applies everywhere in France, not just at universities.)

At my particular university, the number of lecturer positions is quite high, as nearly every department in the university requires their students to take at least a bit of English these days (my students are 3rd and 4th years doing degrees in sports management!) i also know other people teaching classes of engineering and business students.

For language schools - most of the big ones hire year-round, as spots become available. Almost no one hires during the summer, since nearly the entire country shuts down and people go on vacation. Some language schools actually close their doors the entire month of August (mine does!)September ("la rentrée") is a great time to look but there's quite a bit of competition looking at the same time too.

That said, I wouldn't look too far in advance, as most places will want you to start almost immediately if they hire you. Hope this helps. good luck!

Does the same hiring procedure apply for university lecturer positions for those without EU working papers? I'm a US citizen with similar qualifications (MA TESOL + tertiary experience), and I had completely written off the possibility of working at a university anywhere in the EU, let alone France.

In case you couldn't tell from my prior post, I'm American and, yes, I am legally working at a French university. Nothing is ever impossible in France... paperwork is just more of a pain in the @ss if you are American.

There are only two ways I know of for Americans to work in France legally for more than 2-3 months. (that is, to get an appropriate work visa to teach in France without already having EU citizenship or being married to a French person).

This is the visa I'm currently on - it gives me permission to work 12 additional hours per week in addition to the ones I already do as an assistant. I actually do more... but here in France, bureaucratic government offices don't know what the left hand is doing from the right hand. I just take advantage. Note that this is ONLY for assistants who are assigned to PARIS. Not all of the regions allow this kind of flexibility with the visa. The assistants have a forum to themselves as well, you can ask about specific regions there - maybe they can give you more answers:
www.assistantsinfrance.com

2. The French-American Chamber of Commerce organizes a work exchange program for US and French citizens to work in each others' respective countries. Details are at:
www.faccnyc.org

PLEASE NOTE: University lecturer positions in France are a strange beast. That is - they will NOT hire you unless you already have a full-time job. Technically my assistantship is not considered full-time. Let's just say I did some tricky work to get my university position approved....

A better option is to try to French-American Chamber of Commerce, work for another language school full-time (usu considered around 20 hours)and work for a univ part-time.